title: Low serum zinc concentrations predict mortality in patients referred to coronary angiography.
abstract: Zinc deficiency is common among the elderly and has been associated with oxidative stress, immune dysfunction and CVD. We examined whether low zinc concentrations are associated with total, cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality. Serum zinc concentrations were measured in 3316 patients from the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health study, who were routinely referred to coronary angiography at a single tertiary care centre in Southwest Germany. After a median follow-up period of 7.75 years, 769 patients had died, including 484 deaths due to cardiovascular and 261 due to non-cardiovascular causes. After adjustments for cardiovascular risk factors and other possible confounders, the hazard ratios in the first when compared with the fourth zinc quartile, and per quartile decrease were 1.44 (95 % CI 1.13, 1.83; P = 0.001) and 1.15 (95 % CI 1.07, 1.24; P < 0.001) for total mortality, 2.20 (95 % CI 1.42, 3.42; P < 0.001) and 1.32 (95 % CI 1.16, 1.50; P < 0.001) for non-cardiovascular mortality and 1.24 (95 % CI 0.92, 1.66; P = 0.162) and 1.10 (95 % CI 1.01, 1.21; P = 0.038) for cardiovascular mortality. Furthermore, serum zinc concentrations correlated negatively with age and markers of inflammation and positively with antioxidants. The present results suggest that zinc deficiency may contribute to a reduced life expectancy in patients scheduled for coronary angiography.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, Mannheim Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany. stefan.pilz@chello.at
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pilz
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dobnig
authors.forename: Brigitte M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Winklhofer-Roob
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Renner
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Seelhorst
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wellnitz
authors.forename: Bernhard O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Boehm
authors.forename: Winfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: März
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D017023:Coronary Angiography / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc